Risk & Business Magazine CEO/CFO Business Today Magazine Summer 2018 | Page 6

Beats the Odds in
the Shoe Business
W
hen the American shoe
industry went into decline
in the 1970s and many
domestic businesses were
pressured out of the market by cheaper
labor overseas, no one imagined that a
scrappy Ohio-based company would be
one of the lucky ones that would not only
survive but flourish. Today, that company,
Rocky Brands, is still based in its original
hometown of Nelsonville, Ohio, but
now has more than $250 million in sales
and over 2,000 employees. Through it
all, the company has trusted its Ohio
business neighbor—Snider, Fuller and
Stroh—to handle its insurance needs, a
relationship that works largely because
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its two principals are “straight shooters,”
according to Mike Brooks, former Rocky
CEO and current adviser to the company.
Originally called the William Brooks
Shoe Company, Rocky Brands was
founded in 1932 by brothers F.M. and
William Brooks. They thrived by doing
a brisk business selling shoes and boots
to the military. At the same time, the
brothers laid the groundwork for growth
in the civilian market by building strong
ties with key footwear retailers, including
Sears, Roebuck; J.C. Penney; Kinney Shoe;
and Thom McAn. Although the company
briefly changed hands in the late 1950s,
the Brooks family never left the business
entirely, with John Brooks, F.M.’s son,
continuing his employment there,
eventually ascending to owner and CEO.
In the late 1970s, with John’s son Mike
firmly entrenched in the business also,
the company took a huge leap of faith —
bucking the trend of merely selling to
big-name retailers and embarked on a
mission to create a solid brand on which
it could base future growth. Disappointed
that the family name was already being
used by Brooks Brothers and Brooks
Athletics, Mike settled on the name of
one of the most popular and rugged-
sounding leathers at the tannery where
he had previously worked: Rocky. He
describes his vision at that time: “The
big chance was moving away from just